New Musical premieres

Along with Emily Clare Thomp­son, my col­lab­o­ra­tor, I attended the pre­miere of our newest musi­cal, A Knight at the Round Table, on March 13, 2014. Emily not only writes book and lyrics, she also directed the entire pro­duc­tion. It was per­formed at Cen­tral School in East Hanover, NJ, with a cast of tal­ented 5th Graders.

The show starts in a modern-day mid­dle school, where young Gwen is inspired by the King Arthur leg­end and wants to learn more. As she researches the dif­fer­ent sto­ries and shares with her friends, she slowly draws their inter­est to the Arthurian world, too. When she and her class­mates read dif­fer­ent books, the stage trans­forms into the world of King Arthur, and the leg­end of King Arthur is told in flash­backs. Soon, Gwen and her fel­low stu­dents begin to see par­al­lels between the Arthurian leg­end and their own lives. Could the return of the age of Camelot be close at hand?

We asked so much from our tal­ented group of young stu­dents! Emily and I feel this show is our most ambi­tious work yet. We started work on this in early Decem­ber, and we decided to up the ante; we wrote a more com­plex score and employed more stag­ing effects than usual. And by unfor­tu­nate coin­ci­dence, this hap­pened to be the snowiest win­ter in years! So many days of school were can­celed for inclement weather, mean­ing lost rehearsals. Stu­dents made up the time by rehears­ing on week­ends and dur­ing lunch and recess. Given all of these hin­drances, it’s a minor mir­a­cle the kids pulled off such great per­for­mances, with rich, thought­ful characterizations.

Here are a dozen pic­tures from the pro­duc­tion; click the image to enlarge.

The teacher drones "On and On and On."

The teacher drones “On and On and On.”

 

Gwen researches King Arthur as the scene transforms to medieval mimes

Gwen researches King Arthur as the scene trans­forms to medieval mimes

The villagers in medieval times

The vil­lagers in medieval times

Merlin and the Lady of the Lake convince Lady Igraine she must give up the baby Arthur

Mer­lin and the Lady of the Lake con­vince Lady Igraine she must give up the baby Arthur

Merlin watches the young Arthur retrieve the sword Excalibur

Mer­lin watches the young Arthur retrieve the sword Excalibur

Lady Igraine, Lady of the Lake, and Merlin crown the new king

Lady Igraine, Lady of the Lake, and Mer­lin crown the new king

Gwen reads with Bernard, while the classmates look on

Gwen reads with Bernard, while the class­mates look on

King Arthur explains "The Code of Chivalry" to his knights

King Arthur explains “The Code of Chivalry” to his knights

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Have a Lit­tle Faith”–Marvin gets his magic back

Old and new worlds join; is Bernard the new king?

Old and new worlds join; is Bernard the new king?

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Bows

Swordplay posing between Arthur and Bernard, after the show

Sword­play pos­ing between Arthur and Bernard, after the show

About Richard D. Russell

This was written by Richard D. Russell, New York City based composer of fine music.